Chameleon
by Era Nox
Summary: Set in the time of SGA; a lone wraith queen passes for human as she wills due mainly to an accident. As she experiments on humans for somewhat of an unusual purpose, she runs into unwelcome obstacles, namely the Atlanteans and an unwelcoming Michael..
1. Chapter 1

Stargate Atlantis fanfic. This is done with a couple of original wraith characters, as well as characters from Atlantis, the gang as well as Michael. This is just an idea I had which was inspired mostly from Stargate Atlantis and partially from SG-1, not based on any current SG-A plot. This is a wraith-centric fic, told mostly from their perspective. Keep in mind I'm making my own conclusions about their life, customs etc where there are gaps, lol.

Disclaimer: I do not own Stargate or the wraith, or any of the characters on the Atlantis team. This is my attempt at a tribute to them.

Prelude and Chapter 1

Thousands of years ago, on a planet far from Atlantis, long before the time of our favorite Atlanteans..

Deep in the woods of a planet shunned by the people of Altera, lately known as the Lanteans, two scientists tirelessly worked. One of them held up a test tube in one hand, in the other she flicked back long ebony hair. Her companion watched her both in admiration and in fear. Finally, she hissed, and set down the test tube.

Her companion watched her, unsure of what to say. He was surprised, always had been, for his companion's interest in the nitty gritty of science. Females, who held such high rank, were, well, above having to slave over vials of liquid all night. She hadn't even stopped to eat. It was showing, too. Her face was damp with exhaustion, her eyes tired, her movements jerky and exaggerated, those of someone nearing their limit. Finally, the male had enough.

'You should rest, my queen.' He said, taking a step towards her.

The female hissed at him.

'I'm nearing a breakthrough, I cannot stop!' She retorted, and pushed at his hand irritably. She snapped her fingers. 'Bring the test subject.'

The male sighed.

'I will, my queen, but only if you promise to take nourishment.'

The female's eyes narrowed.

'I will take nourishment when I _need_ it, Reknar, and not before.' She retorted. 'The subject. _Now_.' She replied in a tone that made it clear that the topic was not open for discussion.

'My queen, if this refusal to take nourishment is because..' The male named Reknar began, but stopped when the female reached him in two strides and punched him, hard.

'Do you have a problem obeying orders, perhaps?' She hissed in a low, dangerous tone.

Reknar shook his head and left the room.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooo

The laboratory was dark walled, and moderately lit. Because of the exceptional vision of his species, too much light was unnecessary. Reknar left the main laboratory and entered a dark corridor whose walls were lined with cocoons. Approaching one he took note of the young female of the species that called themselves 'Lanteans', or 'humans'. She met his eyes with a pleading gaze.

'Please….let me go..' She whispered.

Reknar ignored her and set about removing her from the cocoon.

'I did nothing to you, wraith..' The human continued to plead. 'Let me go!'

Reknar snorted.

'It is my queen who wants you, not I.' He replied simply, and finally lifted his weapon and stunned her.

He didn't understand his Queen's dedication to this project. When the young Queen and noted scientist had proposed the project, he was eager to work for her, and he couldn't deny his hopes that he might catch Lyirin's eye in other ways besides. The young queen, however, was enamored with her work and nothing else. As he saw her interact with humans, he wondered if there was another reason behind her work. Certainly she was like no queen before her. Others had remarked that she was flawed, imperfect. But Lyirin had proved herself every bit a queen, a huntress, a warrior, and a scientist. But as to what motivated her, no wraith knew. Even using telepathy, Lyirin was a closed book. Over time, she and Reknar had formed such a compatible working relationship that she preferred to work with him over any other scientist, which earned Reknar great esteem in the eyes of his hive, as the Queen's chosen second in command.

Reknar sighed as he entered the main room of the lab once more, where Lyirin waited.

'Are you going to stand there, Reknar, or are you going to bring…me…the…. subject?' Her words ended in a displeased hiss.

Reknar studied her. The effects of hunger were clearly showing. He wondered how long it had been since she had last eaten.

'Here, my queen.' He pushed the human female towards her.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lyirin watched her second in command as he watched her, aware of his thoughts, knowing he could never know hers. She studied the human female, stunned and slumped over. She was young, her hair dark and short, and dressed in a pale blue dirty gown. Yes, it had been a long time since she'd eaten. What was the reason for this project? She wasn't sure. The motivation known to her hive was the one she earned high praise for. But was there another reason, a reason for which she might be beheld as weak? Lyirin pushed those thoughts firmly out of her mind. She reached for the human woman and injected the substance which would waken her, and give her an extra boost of that which the humans would call adrenalin.

The human woman awoke, and her eyes beheld Lyirin, and she began to scream.

'Please, please, let me go…' She begged. 'Please don't kill me…'

Lyirin felt annoyance and impatience. She replied in the human's language.

'I do not intend to feed on you. I simply need samples of tissue and fluid which are unique to your kind.' She shot a warning look at Reknar, who had opened his mouth in protest when she had voiced her intent not to feed.

The human woman relaxed.

'Then…. will you let me go..?' She whispered.

'We shall see.' Lyirin replied, and bound the restraints over the woman, who she had placed on an examination table.

She methodically extracted blood and the other samples she needed, and carefully stored them next to the rest of her formula. Then, without warning, she slumped over, exhausted. The human woman looked at her curiously.

'My queen!' Reknar exclaimed, and rushed over to her.

She pushed at him, trying to push him away, but Reknar wasn't about to let her peculiarities stop him doing his duty. He picked her up and moved her towards the human on the table, then gently but firmly he pressed her hand down to the woman's skin, just underneath the throat.

'Feed.' He growled, dropping formality. 'Feed, my queen. Now.'

'You dare….' Lyirin gasped, but could hold off no longer. Her hand clenched over the human's skin, and she drew in the life source, her food source. She sighed in relief as the woman was drained.

When it was done, she stood up and faced away from her second.

'Take that away, and leave me.' She said in a flat voice.

'My queen..' Reknar began.

'Go.' She stated firmly, in a tone not to be argued with.

Still concerned, Reknar went.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lyirin sat alone, admitting to herself, finally, to rest. She had worked nonstop and now she was just…so…close. Only a few minor adjustments to the formula and it would be ready for use. And then, it would be the answer not only to one problem, but perhaps two. Lyirin smiled. She had no interest in simply commanding, as a queen. She was a scientist, and she wanted to earn her position in the hive by something other than her birth, her gender. She tried to quiet those thoughts as she moved out of the lab, to follow Reknar.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

'Reknar!'

Reknar turned to see Lyirin striding towards him.

'I will take my ease.' She hissed.

'As you wish it, my queen.' He replied and he took her arm and guided her down the tunnels, which, to a human, would be quite dark.

'I wish to test the formula tomorrow.' Lyirin's eyes gleamed as she stated this to her second in command.

Reknar nodded.

'Of course, my queen.' He replied. He would argue with her after she had rested. It was no use arguing with her in this state.

After a few minutes of walking, they came to a simply-wrought door, which Reknar activated. Inside were the sleeping quarters of the lab. Small and sparse, the walls were a dark blue and the sleeping platform took up most of the room. It was a simple thing lined with animal pelts, uncomfortable, but this didn't matter as not much time was spent sleeping while on the project. The room was softly lit by human standards, reasonably bright by wraith standards. He led Lyirin to the sleeping platform, and only when he was certain she was comfortable, he lay down beside her. As much as he would have liked it to mean that Lyirin had accepted him as a mate, it was simply a custom among their hive that some wraith of high rank slept close to a bodyguard, or second in command, who would see to it that no threat reached the one who they served, or even to serve as a decoy in some cases to foil potential assassins, from rival Hives, or others who aspired to take over a high rank in the Hive.

In the lab, sleeping arrangements were sparse, so he slept beside Lyirin, and he would never, ever have dreamed of insulting her honor in any way. He watched Lyirin for a few moments, certain that she was sleeping, before setting the foreign motion detector alert both on his wrist unit and in the room. It would detect any additional life forms in the vicinity besides the two of them. Finally, he shut his eyes and allowed himself to rest.

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Lyirin awoke, gasping, fresh from the dream in which the face of the human woman she had fed upon had featured. She spluttered, coughing out a mouthful of Reknar's smooth, long white hair. In irritated amusement she carefully untangled her hair from that of her second in command and studied him, then reached into his sleeping mind. Worried about her. Always worried about her. She sighed. His over-cautious worrying about her was causing her impatience and irritation, as the work was not proceeding at the rate she would have liked. In a complex maneuver, she stood up, careful not to wake Reknar, and proceeded to the lab. She was so close. So close, and today she would finish it. She knew it.

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After hours of work, Lyirin shook as she triumphantly held out the test tube. She had tested…and retested, and she was positive that it would work. Only one step remained. A test. She knew that Reknar would never agree to her plan, so she had injected him with sedative as he slept. She smiled to herself. It wouldn't harm anyone. He'd never know. And if she was successful, well…..

She let her thoughts trail off as she readied the applicator, which was now filled with her newly perfected formula. She held out her arm and injected the liquid into herself. She hadn't been sure what to expect, anything but what happened. The world dissolved into darkness and Lyirin crumpled to the ground. As she lost awareness, memories came to claim her from deep inside her subconscious, and Lyirin was drawn to relive memories from long, long ago.

'_Lyirin, my child, what ails you?'_

_The voice was that of her bearer, her nurturer, the queen of the hive. She stood tall with chestnut hair and a long flowing white gown._

'_Edira (which was the wraith term given to one's bearer..the equivalent of 'mother'), today they showed us a human.' Child-Lyirin whispered. _

_The queen nodded in understanding. Her young daughter was currently eating solid food and, as was part of the training of the young, had witnessed her first feeding._

'_It troubles you, Lyirin? Why?' The chestnut-haired queen regarded her daughter with curiosity, and a little concern._

'_Why is it that we must feed in this manner, Edira?' Lyirin queried. 'It….begged for it's life. It isn't just an unintelligent herd animal, it thinks, it feels, as we do!'_

_The queen sighed._

'_You must not think thus.' She stated, simply, putting her hands on her daughter's shoulders. 'It is not the way of wraith to think so. And those creatures you defend have murdered many of our number. We must survive, as must they. Evolution dictates that the strong survive, and the weak serve the strong.'_

'_But does that make it right?' Lyirin insisted. 'Can we not be nourished by another source, like we are now?'_

_The queen laughed, and motioned her daughter to sit. Lyirin valued the moments spent outside, in the woods, near the lake. It was peaceful, and she enjoyed coming to the lake to be alone and to be away from others who tried to win standing with her, knowing she was to be the future Queen of the Hive, in time. Among their hive, the females who ruled did so for a certain period of time, after which a successor was either chosen, or if none were chosen, fought for. A queen of the past could always resume her position at a later date. They found this system of leadership to work well, and they were unified as few other hives were. And she…._

_Lyirin sighed. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she think like the others of her kind?_

'_Lyirin.' Her bearer's words broke through her reverie. 'You cannot eat what you have been for much longer. Look at your hand, my child.' She grabbed Lyirin's hand and held it out. The slit was longer, deeper, maturing. 'The food you eat now will become unpalatable. Do you wish to live, my daughter?'_

_Lyirin sighed, and nodded._

'_Then speak no more of this. If it helps, perhaps I can arrange for you to see the bodies of those of us slaughtered by those you defend?How brutally they were slain?'_

_Lyirin's eyes went wide, and she shook her head rapidly._

_The queen smiled._

'_I thought not.'_

_oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_

_The scene changed as Lyirin relived her memories. It went forward to Lyirin's first culling. She had insisted upon being part of the group that went in the shuttles (darts) to collect the herd for the culling. After years, and finally witnessing the body of a wraith brutally slain by a human, Lyirin had begun to accept her place and the place of humans in the lives of her species. She had trained relentlessly, both in fighting skills and in the art of shuttle-piloting, and had become unparalleled in skill, much to her bearer's disapproval, as her station made her above such duties. But her passion was science. She was never happier than in a lab surrounded by samples and experiments, or working on new technology. Her skills as a scientist were quickly earning her even more standing among the hive, and there were those who wanted to push for her to become queen even earlier. Lyirin, of course, did not yet want the position. She only wanted to gain her reputation for deeds done to benefit the hive. She shook her head to clear it of her reminiscence, and focused on the task of piloting the shuttle. Her adrenalin built as she sped past the twin moons of the planet, drawing closer to the atmosphere, closer to the planet, to the hunt, the culling._

_Lyirin studied the controls of her ship, and she carefully noted the position of the other shuttle-craft. Her adrenalin built as they entered the atmosphere and were soon at their feeding ground. She felt the mental nudge and she linked her abilities with those of the other wraith, to create the illusions which would confuse their prey. She could see it, in her mind, the people rushing at shadows, rushing to slay that which they could not quite see. She reached for the controls to activate the culling beam. Her eyes gleamed as she picked up the cargo. No more than three, she had been told. Very well, she had three. Mission accomplished, she turned around her craft and headed back to the hive ship. _

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_As Lyirin entered the shuttle bay, as she was trained, she went to the special unloading strip for cargo, where she re-integrated her catch. Proudly, she went to her docking station and moved to the cargo strip, where she went to inspect her catch, who had been stunned and were being led away by the warriors. _

'_Hey! Lyirin!'_

_She felt the presence of and recognized the voice of her friend, Reknar. She turned to face him and grinned._

'_Good first culling?' He enquired._

_She nodded vigorously._

'_I enjoyed piloting the shuttle.' She replied, grinning. She took off her shuttle helmet and shook out her long ebony hair, a rare shade among a grown wraith female. She looked at Reknar, who was doing the same. His hair was as long as hers, though a smooth white, which he neglected to dreadlock. When she'd asked him about that, his answer was simply that he, like her, was a scientist, and he saw no inconvenience in keeping his hair as it was. What's more, he'd been surprised at the question._

'_Lyirin! Wake up!' He smacked her on the elbow suddenly, catching her thoughts. 'Time for feeding….our first feeding. Aren't you coming?' His voice had taken on a note of concern, as he was one of the few who had been made aware of reservations Lyirin had about their food source._

_Lyirin smiled._

'_Last one to the feeding room is a Gor'nak's ass!' She cried out, and ran in the direction the warriors had taken._

_Startled, her friend ran after her._

_oooooooooooooooooooooooooooo_

_Lyirin's fingertips trailed along the organic walls of the ship, something for which Lyirin felt a surge of pride in the scientists of their race. The ship was capable of healing like a living being was. She walked through the moderately lit corridors until she reached the doors beyond which the feeding room was. She felt a flutter of nervousness, she'd never been allowed in here previously. As she approached, the guards moved aside and the web-like doors sprung aside. Lyirin moved cautiously inside. She looked around. The corridor beyond was lined with open spaces, in each space was a cocoon, in which a wrapped-up human resided. Some were conscious. Some were not. She moved towards one of the unconscious ones when one of the commanders slapped her hand away. _

'_Esteemed one, they need to be conscious for the feeding.' The commander hissed, and pushed her towards a terrified looking male who could do nothing but stare at her and whimper._

'_Feed, esteemed one.' The commander hissed. 'Take what is rightfully yours!'_

_Lyirin swallowed and took a step towards the male. As she approached, it began to beg. Yes, she could see what the others had meant. These creatures sniveled, and begged, and yet, probing into the mind of the creature, she knew that if he were set free he would seek to end her life the moment he regained use of his hands. She could see he thought of her as a monster, a genetic aberration, unworthy of life. That she and all like her should be decimated….utterly. With a hiss of rage she placed her hand on his chest and clenched as, for the first time, she fed. She felt the life force flow into her, sustaining her in a way solid food never had. She felt the exhilarating power of life, and didn't want to stop, didn't notice anything until the commander had forcibly pulled her away. She shrieked in anger, lashing out._

'_No!' The male cried out, and hit her. 'Not all at once. Leave more for later!'_

_Thus chided, she turned to watch Reknar, who had arrived and was clearly experiencing what she had felt as she fed for the first time._

_Out of curiosity she turned to look at the human upon which she'd just fed. He had aged in appearance, terribly. She felt a twinge of regret, even with what she could feel from the man's thoughts. She was a monster to him. A heartless, emotionless monster. She felt anger, shame, regret. Was there no way to change their way of feeding? Why did she care so much? Was she less than a warrior? Less than a future queen? Less than proud of her race?_

'_Hey, wraith bitch.' The human finally spoke, and from it's mind, Lyirin grasped the meaning of the word it had called her. It was far from complimentary. 'One day, we'll kill you. We'll kill all of you. You defiled our genes, you're nothing but diseased mutants.' He spat at her. 'And one day our kind will end your miserable existence.'_

_Lyirin stood there in shock, but it was Reknar who reacted. He strode up to the human and struck it full in the face. Then, without saying a word, he took Lyirin's arm and led her away from there._

_From that point, Lyirin took more on board that which her bearer had said. All creatures had to feed. And the strong survived. And the humans…well, they would wipe out every wraith in existence if given the slightest chance. She pushed aside the part of her that still wondered, pushed it aside and put her focus into science, her passion._

_0000000000000000_

_The memories swirled in her mind again and Lyirin watched them flash past in her mind. More hunts. Increase in her skill, in her knowledge, her knowledge of technology. Her bearer stepping down and appointing her Hive Queen, much to the approval of the hive. Reknar, becoming her second in command, her research partner. Then, finally, the project._

_They had found that the humans grew more and more wary. More and more they fought back. Hid. Tricked their would-be captors. The idea had come about that a cunning camouflage would enable feeding to be easy as never before. If the genes could be manipulated to trigger an ability to temporary change appearance, to appear human. Like a chameleon effect. To actually shift one's shape into that of their prey, to infiltrate, gain trust, lure. _

_It seemed like the perfect idea and Lyirin, a scientist possibly capable of pulling it off._

_But, there was something else._

_Lyirin wondered if, possibly, as long as she was looking at the idea of shifting into the form of a human, if it would be possible to find a way to feed, and be nourished, as they were. Thus offering an alternate food source. She told no one about this. No one, not even Reknar, for if she did, she would be seen as weak. Still, she wondered. Still, the idea stayed in her mind and took root. And she wondered, wondered. Years and years she worked, years of testing on animals, both successful and failures. Finally, finally something that would work. And if she could make this idea work, why not the idea of another food source?_

_Lyirin's recollections were interrupted by pain. Pain of an extreme sort. Pain, pain, what was causing this? On some level, she was aware of opening her mouth and screaming, not caring who heard, or what they did._

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Reknar, after a night of unpleasant dreams, awoke to the sound of screaming. He sat bolt upright, taking not of two things at once.

One, Lyirin was not there.

Two, the scream sounded like Lyirin.

Without a second thought, he jumped up and raced out of the door and down the corridor towards the lab.

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Upon entry into the lab, Reknar heard screaming and thrashing. He looked around and near the testing table was a hunched over form, on which he could make out a white gown and ebony hair. He stood still, for something didn't seem right. Finally, the writhing figure stilled, and sat hunched, then slowly stood up, then began to turn around.

Reknar, for some reason, dreaded what he would see.

The woman who faced him was human. Her ebony hair framed a pale white face and terrified blue eyes. Her face, her structure, human. Then he caught a glimpse of her hands. On one of them, the feeding slit remained, a giveaway that this was indeed his queen. He stood gaping at her, speechless, unsure of what to do or say. Finally, she spoke.

'Reknar..'

The voice was human, the unusual, high pitched timbre of a human female.

'My Queen…?' He whispered. 'By all the stars, my Queen, what have you done?'

'What does it look like I've done, idiot?' She raged at him. 'This isn't right. I don't have control! I can't turn back…' Her voice had turned to hysterical wail.

'Why did you test it on yourself, Lyirin?' He shot back at her, forgetting protocol in his rage. 'How dare you….no thought for yourself, for your hive, for anyone or anything except your stupid experiment! If you're stuck like this now, it's no less than you deserve!' He was shouting at her now, and her eyes became full of hurt. She didn't reply, only turned around and walked out of the lab. As she did, she suddenly crumpled over and her skin seemed to shift, change, ripple.

As she walked out of the lab, her wraith countenance was completely restored. But she kept walking. And she didn't turn back.

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All day and all night, Reknar waited for Lyirin to return. But she didn't. He contacted others in the hive telepathically, no one had heard from her. It was as though she'd disappeared. Young queen, skilled scientist, renowned warrior, and she had disappeared. Without a trace, vanished.

Over the cycles of the moon, Reknar and the whole hive waited for the return of their queen. Finally, they acknowledged that she was well and truly vanished. They mourned her, like a fallen warrior, and in time a new Queen was chosen for the hive.

Reknar, however, vowed that whatever happened, he would find out what had happened to his queen. He would find her, and bring her back to her hive where she belonged, if it took ten rotations (years) or a thousand. Or twenty thousand. He would find her, and he would bring her back.

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_Modern day, on a planet briefly visited by our favorite Atlanteans….._

'You'd think we could at least visit another planet like the one we….uh….guided with that ancient system..' Rodney began, picking in distaste at the mysterious concoction on the plate in front of him. 'This could be anything. And it could have citrus. And the women…!' He began, while spearing a piece of meat on his fork.

'McKay!' Sheppard cut in, shooting the doctor a poisonous look. 'First of all, that was a planet we messed up with a game. Second, there aren't going to be beautiful women on every planet. Third, would you eat the damn food!' He finished, and took a bite of the meat himself. 'There, see? It isn't so..' His face changed from the usual smirk to horror as he struggled both to swallow the mouthful and finish the sentence.

McKay watched, smirking, his point proven.

Teyla was sitting, as usual lost in thoughts, and to the surprise of everyone, Ronon was wolfing down mouthful after mouthful, apparently enjoying every bite. Rodney was staring at him in apparent shock.

'So why are we visiting this little backwater again?' He asked Sheppard. 'No reports of a ZPM, no space gate, no technology, no resources….why are we here again?'

'Because.' Sheppard said, sighing, in the irritated tone he often used with McKay. 'We got reports of an unusual facility in the woods, something a lot more high-tech than should be found around here, and a description of what sounds a lot like an ancient taking people over there occasionally, people who don't come back.'

'That doesn't sound like one of the ancestors.' Teyla remarked.

'No, it doesn't.' Sheppard replied. 'It sounds a lot like a mission report I read from SG-1, a Goa'uld named Nirrti who was taking people to a lab and performing experiments on them, trying to create some kind of advanced human for hosts.'

'Something to do with ascension?' Ronon stopped eating to ask.

McKay gave him a pained look.

'And why would an ancient need to research ascension?'

He sighed and looked around. They were sitting in a medieval-style bar, around a wooden table. Around them, a variety of travelers were sitting with drinks, animatedly talking about trade or worrying about imminent culling by the wraith. In the corner, a cloaked figure sat, gripping a mug of drink. It was this figure that caught Rodney's attention. They looked both uncomfortable and out of place.

'Rodney…?'

Rodney turned to see Teyla had been talking to him.

'What…er…sorry…could you repeat that?' Rodney asked, slightly embarrassed.

Sheppard rolled his eyes.

'He sees one cloaked person and wonders if it's the planet's only Colonel Carter look-alike. Pay attention, McKay!'

McKay grumbled and turned his attention back to the mysterious glop on his plate. Oh, well. At least the drink was palatable.

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The woman sat, gripping her mug of drink. As with most of the food on this planet, it was repulsive, but bearable. It barely nourished, just barely. The worst of her hunger would have to be taken care of later. For the moment, she was more concerned about the travelers who had appeared. Four of them; a caramel-skinned woman, a tall, dark haired, dreadlocked man, and tall thin man with short, unkempt-looking hair and a shorter man who appeared nervous, twitchy and irritable about everything. They were wearing clothing and equipment far above the technology of this planet, on which she had gone unnoticed for many years. She had come here because she had found a lab set up, one left over long ago by others of her kind. And in this lab, she could continue her research. It was going reasonably well, slow but well. The occasional villager who disappeared into her lab, however, had attracted the attention of these humans, the most advanced she had seen since the Lanteans had abandoned the galaxy.

'Will there be anything else, ma'am?' The serving girl behind the bar addressed her.

'No, that's ok, thank you.'

She reached into her pockets and presented two tokens to the woman, then turned to leave, pulling her hood over her face so that the four strangers would not see her.

For so long, she had dwelt alone. She was certain she was unwelcome by her own. She was feared among the humans of every planet she'd lived on since she left her home. The ones who had seen more than what she'd intended, in any case. She just wanted to be left alone, to continue her work until she could return to her people with something worth presenting. Maybe, then, they'd accept her back, even knowing the way she'd lived in all the years of her absence. As she walked out, some who saw her gave her an odd look, as she didn't look like a local. She scowled and tucked her ebony hair under her hood.

Avoiding the gaze of everyone who was in her path, she made her way into the woods, back to her lab, the lab which she had occupied for five hundred rotations. Newcomers or no newcomers, no one would interfere with her, not anymore, not now.

When she was safely out of the village, the woman stopped and sat down, hunched over. Her skin, all over her body, rippled in a most unsettling way.

Her true countenance restored, Lyirin, once the queen of a hive, and talented scientist among the wraith, made her way to her lab.


	2. Remnants

Disclaimer: I do not own the wraith or the characters of Stargate Atlantis. This is my attempt at a tribute to them.

**Chapter 2 – Remnants**

Reknar sat at the console of the hive ship, drumming his fingers impatiently against the controls. Since the awakening of all his kind there had not been enough nourishment to go around and he, like many others of his kind, was irritable, and as a scientist, he was driven to look for alternatives. He sighed, thinking of the events that had happened. Some nitwit human had been responsible for the awakening, and with the awakening, a promise of a rich source of nourishment. But, it seemed less and less likely that these humans would give away the location of their far-away home world. They weren't like their ancestors. Less advanced, but more resilient.

He continued to strum the control panel with his fingers, earning him an irritated glance from one of the other commanders. He returned the glance, and hissed. As ranking commander on this ship, if he wanted to tap the control panel….

He almost laughed, catching his thoughts, and wished, not for the first time in the many thousands of years since he had last seen Lyirin, that she was there to share his humor. He hadn't given up looking for her. There was now the even nastier thought that she might have fallen at the hands of these new, resilient, yet technologically inferior Lanteans, but part of him felt sure that he would know if this were indeed the case. He sighed. If anyone could have helped in the current situation, Lyirin could have. He had never known another scientist like her. He kicked the console irritably. There was no denying it, the wraith were in trouble, and an alternate food source was needed. And the one scientist who had wanted to make that happen had vanished into an unknown area of space, away from contact, away from any wraith colony, and as the hive's leading scientist in her absence, Reknar grew more and more frustrated in trying to come up with a solution for the circumstances himself. He forced his thoughts away and instead to the journey.

The hive was heading to a culling; their current queen, Cirza, had received word from one of the other queens to participate in a joint culling. Cirza had been reluctant to trust her, and Reknar, still second in command, hadn't trusted her either. So, they were on their way to the planet much earlier than the agreed time.

He stood up, and started pacing the corridor in his irritation, and ran his fingers through his long, white hair. He couldn't shake the feeling that they wouldn't be alone when they arrived at the planet of culling. He considered going to Cirza, but instead kicked the wall, finally earning an irritated exclamation from the male standing to his right.

'Do you have something to say, Lergath?' Reknar hissed at the other, his hand clenching into a fist.

The other wraith rolled his eyes.

'Commander, I feel concern too.' The other wraith grunted. 'Such concerns are best expressed to our Queen, rather than the console and the wall, hmm?' The male said, keeping a carefully neutral expression.

Reknar, to his own surprise, grinned.

'I just don't trust them.' He said, absent-mindedly tapping at the console.

The other made a gesture of agreement.

'They have long been after our territory. I can't believe they'd put that all aside, especially now.' He mused, looking out the window at hyperspace streaking by.

Reknar inclined his head in agreement.

'This is what the queen thinks, and I..' He began, but then felt the tug of mental contact. 'Speaking of the queen, I'm summoned. Keep me updated.' He instructed Lergath, who gave a curt nod and returned his gaze to the route screen.

0000000000000

Reknar carefully entered the queen's chamber, moving past the guards. He looked around quickly. The dark-blue walled chamber was moderately lit, soft lighting even for a wraith, and the hive queen, Cirza, was sitting on her chair, tapping her fingers on the armrests in a similar fashion to what he'd done with the console. He approached the chair, and inclined his head in greeting.

Cirza stood up to face him. Her long white hair was rather more tangled than usual, indicating to Reknar that the queen had been taking out her frustration on it. He almost laughed, although he knew better than to do so. Privately, he compared every queen the hive had chosen since Lyirin, and none, in his mind, had quite measured up. This opinion was shared by many in the hive; and although the opinion of some wraith was that Lyirin was a renegade, every wraith in the hive knew better than to call her thus in front of Reknar.

Reknar was not unhappy with the current leadership, for the most part, Cirza had proved a good leader.

Finding himself caught in his thoughts, Reknar turned his attention back to the queen. She was wearing a long white gown, and was picking and the material restlessly. She looked up and stared at him full in the face, her green eyes narrowing.

'You feel it too, Commander.' She said, finally.

He inclined his head in agreement.

'I do, my queen.' He replied. 'Even leaving as early as we have, it feels as though there has been a trap set for us.' He hissed. 'I think we should turn back.'

'We cannot.' Cirza replied, with an annoyed wave of her hand. 'We are too close and we need to feed, Reknar.' Her look became thoughtful.

Suddenly an alarm blared, and both wraith felt the pull at their minds from the control room. Cirza's expression changed into worry, then anger.

'An ambush!' Her eyes widened in anger as they were shown, through the telepathic link, what the long range sensors had picked up in the control room.

Reknar beheld the images in dismay. There was not one, but three hive ships waiting for them on the planet, most likely with short range fighter craft at the ready.

They were very, very outnumbered.

'We can't turn back.' Cirza was pacing near her chair. 'What other systems are nearby?'

Reknar relayed the question to Lergath in the control room, and waited to be shown an image.

'There is the X'Krath system quite near us, my Queen.' Reknar stated thoughtfully, after viewing the images through his link to Lergath. 'We could conceal ourselves there, but our earlier scans of the planet show that what human life there is, is scattered, and extremely primitive and savage. Could be hard to find.' He said thoughtfully.

Cirza hissed.

'I hate to run like a coward.' She growled. 'But this is a situation that cannot be won. Make the alteration, Commander, and we'll be on our way there.' She finished, a tone of disgust in her voice. 'Then when we are in a more secured position, I shall tell that queen what I think of her offer of alliance!' She reached out and struck a wall in annoyance.

Reknar made a motion of agreement once more.

'As you will it. There will be other opportunities for alliance, my queen.' He replied.

However, on that last thought, Reknar had his doubts. They were… different to other wraith. More unified. They fed only when absolutely necessary. They generally kept to themselves, and stayed out of the way of others. Were they feared? Hated? Looked down upon? They didn't particularly care. But, the fact remained, they were a little different. Reknar paced the room awkwardly, wanting to return to the control room. Cirza suddenly laughed.

'You remind me of a confused zubar, pacing like that. Take your leave, Reknar. I'll call you if I require your assistance again.' Cirza said, not unkindly.

Reknar inclined his head in a gesture of respect, and with more than a little relief, made his way back to the control room.

00000000000000

'Well, it seems you were right about this planet,' Lergath remarked, as they stood on the world's surface, looking around. 'I don't think there are any humans anywhere near us, and the temperature isn't exactly ideal.' He lowered his voice in order to be able to mutter his true opinion of this particular planet without being reprimanded by his commander.

Reknar made a gesture of annoyance. Yes, it was bad. But it wasn't that bad. Scans had picked up humans in the vicinity, but not the immediate vicinity. Everyone on the hive ship was tired, hungry, and tempers were flaring. It was for this reason that Reknar had volunteered to lead the advance party that would search and secure the area. It was a much better choice than remaining on the ship with the company of irritable, hungry wraith and an irate Cirza. On top of her hunger, the queen was seething over the ambush, the lack of honor shown by the other hive. Their hive had always valued honor. Reknar thought again of Lyirin. When she had been queen, she had abided by a strict code of honor, which the hive had followed, and still did. Their hive had always valued honor ever since Reknar could remember, but Lyirin was…..well, she was different. She was like no other queen before or since her time. He found himself wondering whether she had made any progress on her other project, the one she had dared tell no one about except for him. If anything, an alternate food source didn't seem like a very bad idea at the moment.

'Reknar!'

Reknar was jolted back to awareness by a kick from Lergath.

'Wake up! We have an area to secure, remember?' Lergath said, annoyed, then smiled slyly. 'You can daydream later. I'd much rather my skin intact, and if we don't report back to the queen…'

'Alright!' Reknar swatted a hand at Lergath, who dodged aside and smirked.

……………..

As they walked, Reknar surveyed the area intently. According to their scanners, the humans were nearby, possibly hiding in caves. The foliage in the area was thick, full of tall, large-leaved trees as well as dense, prickly shrubs. He found himself intensely disliking the latter as they pushed through it. In the sky, three moons floated overhead. Reknar made a note to mention the idea of using one of the moons for concealment to Cirza.

As he walked, Reknar found himself once more pulled into thoughts of the past, and concern for the future. And so would it have remained for the next few minutes had an arrow not suddenly lodged itself into his shoulder! First with a bellow of rage, then a grin, he pulled out his stunner, eager for the hunt to begin.

The hunting party of five eagerly followed the humans, who, as was mentioned in earlier reports, were exceptionally primitive. They wore nothing save animal hides covering only their more private areas and carried crude weapons, what the humans called bows and arrows, clubs, and spears. Reknar threw himself into the fight eagerly, after pulling the arrow from his shoulder. The humans had launched themselves at the five wraith, screaming at them, shooting arrows, and hurling spears. There were more of them, too, that had emerged from hidden positions to surround and outnumber the wraith. Reknar saw as Lergath, cursing, dislodged a spear from his arm and stunned the human who had thrown it. He stunned two humans who had been trying to sneak up on him from behind and reached out mentally to the wraith who were waiting in the fighter craft by the hive ship.

After a few brief minutes of fighting, during which, surprisingly, one of their party had been quite badly injured, the familiar sound of the fighter craft was suddenly overhead, and it was with relief that Reknar watched the culling beams sweep up the humans. It was just as well, he thought, that they had attacked in quite a large number, at least now they'd have something on which to feed, and to placate Cirza.

'You go on back to the ship.' Reknar told Lergath. 'I'll stay and make sure there aren't more of them.'

Lergath nodded and walked back in the direction of the ship.

Reknar walked closer to the rock walls nearby. He'd thought that perhaps humans were hiding in a cave network but he'd also sensed something here, something not quite right. He hadn't, however, wanted to mention it in front of the others.

He got closer to the rock face and trailed fingers along it, absent-mindedly. Yes, something was definitely different here! In fact…

Reknar cursed aloud as suddenly he found himself pitching forward into a dark hole. As he hit the ground, the lights, as if choosing that moment to sense him, flickered on. He stood up, ruefully adjusting his clothes from where he had fallen. His eyes widened. This was a softly lit chamber of wraith design! On the stone walls, various equipment still resided, and an examining table. He went closer, to examine the find, remembering again his time spent with Lyirin before she had disappeared. Could it be..?

He looked around the lab, discovering empty vials and medical applicators (wraith version of a syringe). There was another piece of equipment the purpose of which he couldn't begin to guess. And there, in the corner, a very crude sleeping area. He moved over to this. Whoever had worked here, had also lived here. He felt excitement building in his chest, which he tried to suppress. After all this time, it couldn't be….

He bent over the sleeping platform. The occupant had taken near everything of value, but had left something behind, unnoticed.

There, on the sleeping platform, lay a crumpled upper garment. On it were several long, ebony hairs.

His first thought was that she was alive. Alive! She had to be, though the lab was clearly abandoned.

Reknar smiled. It could be false hope, but part of him felt sure, certain, that Lyirin was alive, and this lab was one step closer to finding her. He debated whether or not to tell Cirza, whether she would allow him to take his temporary leave of the hive to search for her.

He decided, however, that for the moment, there were more urgent things to worry about. The ones who had tried to trick them were not so far away. For the moment, protecting his hive came first. Later, he'd tell the queen and maybe, after all these years, continue the search for Lyirin. Now, more than ever, her skills were needed.

He left the lab, and watched as the entrance sealed behind him. No doubt coded to wraith DNA. Taking one last note of the surroundings, so as to be able to find the area again, he finally turned around and hurried back in the direction of the hive ship.

…………………….

Stumbling through stubborn undergrowth, Lyirin cursed as her robe snagged on a branch. She was closer to her lab, and she wanted to get there before those humans started looking for her. From what she had gathered, it was only a matter of time. And her work was too important. Ironic, really, if they knew about her work, maybe they'd leave her be. Maybe even be grateful. But, from her experience, humans mostly attacked first and asked questions later when it came to the wraith. Even if they met her in human form, they'd be suspicious.

She hissed in rage as a small animal leaped into her path, startling her. She was tense, her every nerve was afire, after what she had picked up from the humans.

She was, after so many years of going unnoticed, attracting attention to herself, at the worst possible time no less. She thought of Reknar, and wished heartily that she had an assistant once more.

Lyirin cursed aloud; as she had been walking along daydreaming, one of the wretched shrubs had finally done what it almost seemed that they existed to do, tripped her over and she landed flat. As she picked herself up, she thought again of the four travelers. There had been something strange about one of them, the woman. Something….different. She made a note to think more about it later. Finally, she arrived at the blank face of rock that concealed her lab. Moving forward, she placed her hand on the rock, and the wall vanished. She moved inside and the wall reappeared. She was very happy with her door, it was set to her DNA and hers only. No one else, human or wraith, could get inside. She'd taken that particular precaution after a near-miss on another world with one of her previous labs. It had been coded to wraith DNA in general, and, unfortunately, had been discovered by a wraith hunting party. After an interesting encounter which had involved stunning them, dumping them outside the lab, sweeping them up with a culling beam, and only reintegrating them on another planet after she had packed up the lab to relocate once again, she'd decided on additional security from then on.

She moved inside and towards the room towards the back. The lab was brightly lit in all areas except for the area in which she slept. The walls, as with most of her labs, were stone. She had her equipment set up as neatly as possible, although due to having to move frequently, some of it was set up haphazardly. The metal examining table took up space in the middle of the room, and around it were shelves in which she kept vials of liquid, and her applicators. On one side of the room were terminals on which electronic data was stored, and in one corner, a device she was working on. It was unremarkable, it looked merely like a large, glowing, ugly box. But if it worked…

Towards the back were two areas, one her sleeping area, separate from the rest of the lab. Like in her other labs, it contained a small sleeping platform with animal pelts. Uncomfortable, practical. And the third area, well….that was where she kept her subjects.

As she moved into the back area which contained the subjects, the lights flickered on. Brightly lit by wraith standards. Before moving right into the area, she crouched, and her form rippled. She smiled. Once more, she appeared human. She approached the end wall, and was soon staring straight into a pair of terrified eyes. She smiled in a way she hoped was reassuring and reached to remove the human from the cocoon.

'Please!' The middle-aged human male begged. 'No more..'

Lyirin sighed, as she pressed the applicator to his arm and injected the sedative.

'One day, you'll thank me.' She muttered.

From the look on the face of the human before he fell unconscious, it seemed to Lyirin that the only thing that he would be thankful for would be her sudden, painful death.

She suppressed a wry smile.

So many years, and so little had changed.

T.B.C

I'm not sure what I think of this chapter, lol. It's a little different than my original plans for it. Oh, well!


	3. Encounters

Chapter 3 – Encounters

Lyirin surveyed her work, grimly. After she had spent a good few hours on her experiments, still, no success. _But so close…_

She rubbed her forehead in frustration. There was a step she was missing somewhere, she was sure of it. If only she could find it, work around it..

Her painful, burning hunger drew her mind back to the present. The human lay unconscious, the experiments had drained him, as well as Lyirin, of energy.

Lyirin was starving. She couldn't even remember how long it had been since she'd taken nourishment. The hunger filled her, consumed her, like fire through her veins. There was no room for concern or conservation; all that seemed to exist was the hunger, and it couldn't be denied. Struggling to stay coherent, Lyirin removed an applicator from a shelf and injected the human male with it. In the ravenous desperation of her hunger, any previous plans she'd had regarding this human disappeared, he became simply a way to quench the fire inside her.

The human gasped, and woke up. He stared at her, not quite understanding, as she was now in her true form, rather than her disguise, which had been the only form in which he'd seen her. His eyes widened in terror as he now beheld her wraith-form. Not quite understanding that the woman he'd thought to be human and the wraith he saw now were the same; he did understand the look in her eyes.

'No…. no…. please.' He whimpered.

Lyirin made no reply; she was exhausted, stressed, and beyond coherent thought. She placed her hand on the human and sighed in relief as the nourishment flowed into her. Her frustration grew; even as she beheld the empty husk before her, her hunger still burned! It was all too apparent how long it had been since her last feeding. She shook in pain and in hunger, and moved to leave the lab, her only thought being to obtain more sustenance. For the moment, all else was pushed to the side. Picking up her stunner, and the remains of the human, she cautiously left her lab.

………………………..

As Lyirin walked outside her lab, she extended her telepathic senses to pick up any surrounding human or wraith presence. As she had always been quite strong as a telepath, she had found that with practice, she could keep herself hidden; unable to be sensed by any wraith if she so desired, and had done so in all the years of her absence from the hive, thus eliminating any unwanted attention. She was thankful for this ability, which had taken years to cultivate, as it had allowed her a peaceful existence so far. She had worked tirelessly to extend her ability so that she was now able to sense any human or wraith in her vicinity, which had proven to be extremely useful. Such fine tuned ability among her kind as well as the ability to sense species other than her own, was quite rare, though not unheard-of.

As she moved further into the woods with her stunner, she picked up a faint trace of human activity in the woods, and her excitement grew as she counted the individual presences, one…. two…three…six in total.

Moving cautiously towards the presence while remaining hidden in the undergrowth, she was grateful for her decision to exchange her white flowing robe for the black leather hunting garb favored by the wraith commanders. The leather outfit in question had been 'borrowed' from a wraith commander on a scout ship, which she had also 'borrowed'; and although the outfit was slightly ill fitting, it was more convenient in some instances than the robes she usually wore.

Mirth almost broke through her hunger at the memory of this particular incident, and her speculation of what, exactly, the wraith commander from whom the ship had been 'borrowed' would have thought when he regained consciousness after multiple stunning blasts, to find himself without a ship and without his outfit. In spite of herself, Lyirin almost laughed.

Forcing her mind back to the present, she pushed through the undergrowth, growing closer to the human presence. She could not tell at this stage if the four strange humans were among the six; nor was she particularly concerned by that thought…yet.

………………………..

'So you're absolutely sure the lab is this way?' Rodney asked the village guide, Rahan, who was as jumpy as Rodney was irritated.

'Indeed so, my friend!' The guide replied, eager to please. 'There are those who have returned from being taken, and they always come back from somewhere around here!'

Rodney nodded, clearly skeptical, as he looked at the mass of thick and seemingly unexplored forest before them.

'And do they recall what this person looked like?' He queried, only half-interested in the response.

To his right, Sheppard raised an eyebrow.

'Hoping to make the acquaintance of an attractive ancient, McKay?' He asked with an innocent expression on his face.

McKay rolled his eyes.

'That might be funny if it wasn't coming from Captain Kirk.' He retorted.

The guide, on whom this banter was apparently lost, replied after a few moments of thought to McKay's question.

'They have not much to say on the appearance of the strange one.' Rahan said, his tone thoughtful. 'They said that she covered their eyes with a cloth. But one of them caught a glimpse and said she was quite attractive.' He finished, his eyes distant.

McKay's eyes lit up.

'Really? And she was definitely human?'

'McKay!' Sheppard shoved an elbow at McKay, an amused look in his eyes.

The guide looked momentarily confused.

'Human?'

'Yes. Human, Homo sapiens, like us! Not like bogeyman, or wraith, or Godzilla.' McKay replied, patience evaporating.

Ronon and Sheppard, who were watching the exchange, were trying not to laugh.

'Of course she is human, but I thought that you said she might be one of the ancestors, Dr McKay?' The guide asked, puzzled.

'I don't care what it is.' The other villager who had accompanied them, a sour looking man with a mop of messy dark hair, suddenly said. 'My son was never the same after that creature brought him back. If I see it, I kill it.' He stated flatly.

'We cannot just kill her without finding out what she is after.' Teyla spoke for the first time. 'If she is an ancestor, she may have perfectly good reason….'

'Reason!' The man exploded. 'I care only about justice for my son! From here I'll look on my own…' He spat out and turned to leave the others. 'And if I find it first, I kill it.'

Rodney watched the exchange, his mouth opening and closing, and catching a look from Sheppard, decided not to voice the opinion that had first jumped to mind, and rather to continue the search for the strange one, whoever or whatever she might be.

…………………………..

As Lyirin drew nearer to the place where she felt the humans were, she suddenly heard footsteps in the undergrowth. Alarmed, she ducked behind a tree and waited for the person to appear. Finally, a man who was muttering as he pushed his way through the foliage appeared.

He was short by human standards, and rather plump. His hair was dark streaked with gray, and something in his manner made Lyirin think that he was seemingly on a mission…and that she herself was possibly the target. She crouched down and waited for him to draw close. As he did, she saw the anger etched on his face. He looked to be in his mid-years and his face seemed vaguely familiar, although in her hunger Lyirin could not place it. Finally, he came to the spot where she was hidden, and Lyirin decided to take her chances and jump.

For a moment the two merely stared at each other. Seeing Lyirin in her true form, the eyes of the human slowly widened in fear and realization.

'Black hair….' He murmured. 'It's a wraith?'

Lyirin merely stared at him for another moment, uncertain of what to do, until a hunger cramp caused her to bend over in pain.

Taking this as his chance, the man, with a shriek of rage, leapt at her and plunged a knife into her ribs!

Lyirin hissed in anger and pain, and finally her anger overcame her. She threw the man off her back and slammed him to the floor! Placing her hand underneath his throat, she looked for a moment at his face. The man's eyes glared at her in hatred and defiance. Lyirin paid no heed, and drew the nourishing energy into her. The human screamed as she drained the life from him, and Lyirin sighed in relief, feeling the wound in her ribs heal, and life flow through her once more. When it was done, she cast aside the husk, feeling sufficiently nourished. As she beheld the remains, the old twinge returned, and her mind was brought back to her project. Hearing the voices of humans, she quickly moved into a dense group of shrubs and shifted into human form once more.

………………….

'What was that?' Sheppard was suddenly alert at hearing what sounded like shouting breaking the silence of the forest.

Ronon shrugged.

'Sounded like yelling.' He remarked with an odd look. 'I guess he found something in there after all.'

'Well, we have to go look.' John replied, his hand on the stunner he was holding. 'And where's McKay?'

'I believe…he said that he needed to relieve himself.' Teyla replied, with a hint of a smile.

'Just great.' Sheppard muttered. 'And he wonders why he's the one who always gets the arrow in the ass!'

He gestured at the other three and moved towards the sound of the yelling.

'I'll go check it out. You three stay here and wait for McKay.'

'No.' Ronon replied, and stepped in front of Sheppard. 'If you go, I'm going with you.'

'I as well.' Teyla said, firmly. 'It could be dangerous. Rahan..' She spoke to the village guide at last. 'Will you stay here and wait for doctor McKay?'

Rahan nodded.

Sheppard threw a stunner at him.

'Be careful. You see anything but us or McKay, you stun it.'

…………………………………….

Rodney breathed a sigh of relief at having finally rid from his system the drink from the tavern. Usually, there would need to be much persuading to get him to relieve himself in the woods, but it was that or nothing, so Rodney was at least relieved that no one besides his team would have to know about it.

_Crack._

Rodney turned in alarm, thinking that Teyla or one of his team had followed and decided to play a joke on him. He shrugged the feeling off; these were thick woods, there had to be animals of some kind, and as long as they weren't bigger than a rabbit….

_Crack._

The sound of twigs snapping under a definite weight was clearer, closer this time. Finally McKay, having zipped up, turned around and prepared for the confrontation, at least hoping for the intruder to be one of the team playing a trick on him. Instead he saw a black outfit. He couldn't see the person's face, but… he quivered in fear and his hands went to his gun. That was a wraith outfit…a wraith, here? Surely Teyla would have been able to sense it?

As if in answer to his question, the person moved so that their face became visible. It was no wraith, but a pale young woman with long, dark hair. Apprehensive turquoise eyes stared at him. While she was pretty, she looked quite odd to Rodney…. frightened-looking and in a wraith outfit which didn't fit.

'Uh…. hello!' He managed to find his voice. 'What…. uh…. are you doing here? What's your name? I'm Rodney, Rodney McKay.' He held out his hand in greeting to the woman, who simply stared at it. Finally, she spoke.

'Why are you here?'

…………………………..

Lyirin had come across the human purely by chance. As she had been waiting for them to show themselves, one of them had broken away from the group. She had followed him, watched him, hoping to at least find out what he was doing. When it had become all too clear what he had been doing, Lyirin had waited until such time as he had finished with that particular task, so as not to watch a human empty his bladder. Upon drawing closer, she could see he was indeed one of the strange ones that had come into the tavern, the very one who had stared at her so oddly! Perhaps, then, she could find out what it was they were trying to do. She had gotten closer, thinking to capture and interrogate him; unfortunately, the human had turned around and noticed her first. She had been surprised at his questioning her, his apparent lack of fear; perhaps due to the fact that she had perfected a frightened look which tended to put humans at their ease. At least while she was in human form, anyway. But if it questioned her, surely it was only fair that she questioned it…

……………………………..

'Do you have a name?' Rodney asked, choosing not to answer the woman's question.

'Why are you here?' She repeated. 'This forest does not concern you.'

'You know, you never answered my question.' Rodney said with a nervous laugh.

The woman hissed in a way that reminded him of a wraith.

'Answer mine first.' Her voice was tinged with annoyance.

'Well…uh…. we're looking for someone.' He finally managed. 'Maybe you? We heard about a scientist and a lab here. Is it yours? And why are you wearing a wraith outfit?' Curiosity finally got the better of him, as he stared at her ill-fitting leathers.

'I was attacked.' She said, almost hesitantly. 'And I needed the clothes more than he did.' A look that was almost humorous crept into her eyes.

'But that doesn't explain what you're doing here.' Rodney said, staring steadily at her.

The woman's turquoise eyes narrowed into slits.

'What I do in my space doesn't concern you, h…however you may think it does.' She stated acidly.

Rodney wondered what she might have been about to say just before she had corrected herself. He was about to reply when shouting suddenly broke the silence.

………………………………

'I see him, over there!' Teyla exclaimed, pointing to a clearing ahead. 'I also see someone else…who is that?' She moved closer, trying to get a good look at the black-clad figure standing next to Rodney.

'Is that a wraith..?' Sheppard said, his voice incredulous.

Teyla looked at the figure, confused.

'I do not sense a wraith.' She replied, almost hesitantly.

'Well.' Ronon said, arming his weapon. 'Whoever it is, I'm going to check it out.'

'I'm right with you, buddy.' Sheppard replied, moving to follow Ronon through the trees towards Rodney and they dark-clad figure.

…………………..

'Who is that?' Lyirin asked the human, her annoyance building. One thing she could tell for certain, she was indeed the target of this human and the others who were now shouting at him, and she had neither the time nor patience to wait and see what happened when the others arrived.

'They're friends of mine.' The human, who had called himself Rodney, said with a smirk. 'I'm sure they'll want to meet you.'

Lyirin hissed at him, forgetting momentarily to act human.

'I have nothing to say to them…. or you.' She replied curtly.

Before he could react, she was moving swiftly away, running towards the shortcut that she knew would take her to her hidden fighter craft.

…………………..

As she ran, Lyirin heard angry human voices behind her, and the shots of a stunner and some other type of energy weapon. She felt a twitch of anger that some of these weapons were undoubtedly stolen from the wraith. She made a list in her head of planets on which she could hide for a short time, and decided on Sar'eil. One of her labs was still there, and, though it was coded to wraith dna rather than hers specifically, was hopefully undisturbed. As she drew closer to the clearing where she had hidden her ship, she heard the human voices somewhere close, still in pursuit. At last she passed the rocky incline behind which her fighter was hidden, and allowed herself to sigh in relief as she raced towards it. The humans might be able to catch up to her on foot; there was no way they could reach her in a fighter craft. She wondered briefly what they would think upon seeing the wraith fighter craft, and that she, apparently human, was flying it….

Spotting her craft at long last, Lyirin activated the remote control to open the fighter cockpit, and upon reaching it, jumped in. She allowed herself a long, drawn-out breath of relief as the cockpit closed, and she activated the controls to fly up and away from there.

She felt a smug sense of satisfaction as she sped towards the Stargate; she had no desire to feed on these humans, and they would most likely be missed if she were to take them for her experiments. Better to leave, for now, until they had given up and gone. She thought about her destination. Sar'eil was quiet, with relatively primitive humans on it. As was the case on this world, she would likely be left alone, and hopefully when she needed to feed, it would not draw too much attention. She did regret leaving behind her inventions and her medical equipment, and hoped that what she had left in the lab on Sar'eil remained untouched. She hadn't even taken any other clothes with her besides the ill-fitting leathers she now wore. It would be a good few weeks before she'd feel safe coming back even to retrieve some of her equipment to take off world….

Lyirin's attention was brought back to reality as she spotted the Stargate ahead. Activating the controls, she set the co-ordinates to Sar'eil.

As her fighter flew through the Stargate, she couldn't help feeling apprehension. She hoped that the humans would give up, and leave her be.

…………….

As John and the others had run towards McKay, all they had seen was what appeared to be a dark-haired wraith fleeing the scene. Ronon had fired a few shots at it, but Teyla had gone straight to Rodney.

'Rodney? What happened?' She put a hand on his arm and asked him, concerned.

'You scared her! Why did you have to come firing guns!' Rodney cried out in annoyance.

'Her?' Sheppard said, confused. 'Who was that? What was it? It looked like a wraith!'

'That wasn't a wraith!' Rodney exclaimed. 'She said she was attacked and took a wraith's outfit…it didn't fit all that well. But she was human, and she wasn't entirely unattractive..'

Sheppard raised an eyebrow.

'Oh?'

'Easy there, captain Kirk.' Rodney retorted. 'She seemed pretty scared and none too trusting. She also refused to tell me what she's doing here, which makes me think she can only be our mystery scientist.'

'Well, what are we waiting for?' Ronon remarked. 'Let's go after her! She could be a wraith-worshipper…. who knows what she's doing?'

'Alright…. how fast could she run, anyway?' Sheppard replied, and moved in the direction the woman had disappeared.

'If it's ok, I'll stay here!' McKay called after him. 'She might have arrows!' He glanced at Teyla, who was watching Sheppard and Ronon running out of sight. 'They don't even listen…' He muttered.

Teyla smiled, and moved to sit down next to him.

………………………

'This woman can really run!' Sheppard remarked, as he and Ronon followed the vague trail the woman was leaving. Ronon had fired a few stunning blast in what seemed her direction, but in vain. Sheppard thought of stopping to catch his breath, but Ronon was still running after the woman. He struggled to catch up.

After a good few minutes of running through the thick forest, they finally reached what appeared to be a clearing, and caught sight of a distant figure running towards something. Sheppard held out his stunner, preparing to fire, but nothing he expected was close to what happened next. The woman disappeared, and a few moments later a dart rose from the vague area in which she'd disappeared. The sound of the dart screeched overhead, and Sheppard and Ronon ducked behind some bushes, expecting a culling beam. The dart, however, sped away, possibly in the direction of the Stargate. Ronon yelled an obscenity and fired some shots in its direction.

'What kind of person can fly a wraith dart?' Sheppard mused aloud.

Ronon rolled his eyes.

'You, for one.' He said with a grunt.

'I mean what kind of person who doesn't have McKay?' Sheppard retorted, amused.

'A wraith worshipper, maybe.' Ronon replied with a scowl. 'If we see her again, this won't be set to stun.' He indicated his energy weapon.

'Oh, yes it will.' Sheppard said firmly. 'Until we find out who and what she is, we won't be killing her. But for now she's gone, so I suggest we head back to the others, then to Atlantis. And we should buy that guide…and ourselves…a drink and something to eat.'

Ronon grinned at Sheppard.

'No arguments there.'

………………….

Once she had landed in a safe spot near her lab on Sar'eil, Lyirin disembarked from her craft. She held her stunner and walked towards the lab she had left behind, so long ago. As she drew closer, something made her stop. She could sense something, a presence that was….

She stiffened in anger and a small measure of alarm. There was another wraith here. Or at least, that was what the presence felt most like.

Another wraith in _her_ territory, possibly in _her_ lab…

Stunner held tightly in her hands, she moved closer to the intruding presence.

T.B.C. On to chapter 4...


	4. Renegade

Chapter 4 – Renegade

Lyirin walked towards her lab, tightly clutching her stunner. She was tired, slightly hungry, irate and now extremely frustrated. That another wraith sought to trespass on her territory only added to her ire.

She stepped quickly behind a rock to shift back into wraith-form, knowing that whoever was there would not take kindly to seeing her, and seeing her as a human would only cause more problems. She moved away from the rock, and in doing so, tripped over a branch. She uttered a curse under her breath. Throughout her life she was seemingly prone to annoying accidents. Reknar had teased her mercilessly, telling her that she'd be best in a fighter while the rest of the hunting party was on the ground, lest she tripped over the humans they were trying to hunt. Reknar! What did he know? She almost laughed, and then shifted her focus to the clearing ahead.

This lab, like all her labs, was well hidden; in this case behind a wall of rock, nestled amongst thick trees, a perfect hiding spot. Which made her wonder, who else wanted to hide here? This was a lab to be kept secret, the lab of one who worked in secret, or perhaps a renegade. She pondered this; perhaps this could be an ally in her cause? She dismissed the thought; it could wait until after she'd had a chance to look around.

ooooooooooooooooooo

As Lyirin walked towards the lab, she felt the presence grow stronger, and something about it puzzled her. It was a wraith, but something was…There was something else, too, that didn't feel right.

_What was that?_

She approached the wall, which vanished as she drew near. She walked into the lab that was once hers and, to her astonishment; no longer abandoned.

The lab was filled with equipment. She could see what appeared to be an examination table, much like the ones she had always used for subjects. There was a variety of electronic equipment, various jars and some containers filled with what looked like insects. The room was moderately lit, and the smell suggested a very recent inhabitant.

Lyirin moved towards the hall leading to the back area, and stiffened. The sense of something wrong that she had felt earlier was getting stronger as she moved towards the back area, where cocoons were usually kept. She pressed against the wall, and moved slowly forward, though alarms were going off in her head. It didn't feel like the new owner of the lab was in here, yet they felt close-by, as if they could return any second….

Lyirin finally entered the back area and gasped. All at once, she could see what had felt so wrong!

Birthing pods.

The entire space was filled with birthing pods, which looked about to hatch. But whatever life they were meant to be, they were no wraith.

Walking closer to one, and ran her fingertips along the sides, trying to get a feel for what was inside. This was definitely not wraith... She'd never felt anything like it before! It seemed closer to an insect life form, possibly like those from which it was understood that the wraith were descended. But what were they? What were they doing here?

Finally, Lyirin moved towards the corner and in doing so, noticed something else. She put a hand over her mouth in disgust! A pile of human bodies lay there, dead and rotting. Lyirin bent over to inspect one more closely and saw marks on the neck. Oh yes, they'd been fed on, but not by a wraith. She'd been right, then, in thinking that this had been something to do with the bugs from their ancestry.

_But what? _

What in the world could the scientist who inhabited _her_ lab possibly be doing, and why? She moved back towards one of the birthing pods, intending to open it and study whatever was inside, when a sudden noise startled her.

Lyirin turned towards the direction of the noise, to see the most horrific thing she had ever seen! It had aspects of wraith, but looked more than anything like a giant insect, much like the smaller version, which seemed to have fed on the humans in the pile. She backed against the wall, unsure what to do. Would it attack her? Should she stun it? What was it? She decided to test her luck and try to stun it anyway, for whatever it was, it was clearly hostile.

As she lifted her stunner, to her surprise, the creature stopped moving towards her, made a strange noise, and backed away. She gaped in astonishment; she had not even had the chance to fire at the creature. But it was backing away from her, standing aside. Pondering the source of this strange turn of events, she started to move towards the front area of the lab, when a cold voice spoke in the wraith tongue.

'That's close enough.'

Lifting her head to see who had spoken, she heard and felt the stunner blast, which hit her at least three times. Before she could look up to see the one who had stunned her, the world went black.

………………………………

The wraith contemplated the female on the floor before him. He had seen her as soon as she had arrived, and figured she must have sensed him, yet for some reason he had not been able to sense her.

This lab was one of many in which he had held his experiments, and grown his army. He had found the lab abandoned, with no sign of the original owner, or the original purpose. He'd guessed that whoever this female was, she might be able to shed some light on those points, not that he cared. It was more likely that she was a spy who had come for information, or to try and kill him.

_But how had she known he was here?_

He growled in frustration. Ever since his capture and torture, both human and wraith had hunted him, and there was little time for polite questions. He had been more annoyed that he hadn't been able to sense her, a full-blooded wraith female. Had the torture he'd been forced to live through altered him so much that he could no longer sense a female of his own species? _His own species_, no matter what anyone else tried to make him believe.

He shook in anger at the memories that had led to his current life as a reviled fugitive. His capture by the Atlanteans; being used as their guinea pig, their experiment…. the poison that they called their 'retrovirus', with which they had sought to take away his identity, make him human…

Even during the times he had been human, something in him was always aware…and they had betrayed him.

Even after what they had done to him, he had chosen to help the Atlanteans when they had been in mortal danger, although to be fair, it had not been an entirely selfless act. Yet still they had betrayed him; making him human once more against his will, erasing his memories, even after he had saved their lives. They would have even killed him and two hundred others, if he had not found out their plot at the last minute. And after all this, he was still reviled by the wraith, and their queens, who were always able to sense the humanity he had been forced to live. Hated, shunned, with nowhere else to go, no one to defend him except for his guardians that he had created, ironically, with an improved version of the very same poison the humans had injected into his veins….

………………………………………………..

The male moved closer to the slumped form, noting with grim satisfaction that he was able to sense her in her unconscious state. Perhaps she, like some of their species, was able to hide her presence from her kind? Yes, that must be it. He sighed in relief. Whatever else had been done to him, they couldn't take away his abilities. But why was she here? What did she hope to gain by looking at the birthing pods rather than the terminals that contained all of his research? He moved toward the female and picked her up, carrying her to the examination table. From behind, the creature watched him, waiting for a command. He made a noise and a gesture of dismissal, and the creature moved away, towards the wall, which opened to let it outside.

He laid the female on the examination table and bound her with the restraints, making sure to tighten them more than he would for a human, and as soon as she was suitably restrained, he filled an applicator with a sedative and injected her with a large dose, feeling it wise to take precautions, as the females of his race were vicious fighters, with powerful minds.

He studied her form, trying to work out where she had come from. She was dressed like a male wraith commander, and her outfit didn't fit. Was she perhaps a hive keeper? What was she doing alone, far away from a hive? He picked up another applicator, and filled it with a chemical which he knew would wake her up without interfering with the sedative. Once he'd interrogated her, he'd find out who she was, what she was doing here, and how she'd found him. Then, possibly kill her, or let his creatures kill her. She was no real use to him alive. Humans were a better source of material for his experiments. Part of him rebelled at treating a female of his species this way, but as far as he was concerned, it no longer mattered.

…………………………….

With a gasp, Lyirin awoke, and instantly felt restraints of some kind holding her down. Something else was wrong; she felt a thick, heavy feeling through her body. A sedative of some sort! She snarled. What had been done to her? She was restrained and drugged on an examining table, like an animal! Hissing with rage, she struggled against the bonds. They were tight, and in her current state there was no way she could escape them. She looked around, trying to see the source of her humiliation. Finally, she saw the figure of a male wraith, with hair that was unusually short. His back was turned to her, so she growled again to get his attention.

'What do you want from me? Release me!' She growled in the wraith tongue.

The male did not look at her, but she could feel his scorn.

'Release you, yes; of course, others will come!' He spat out mockingly. 'Don't you think I've heard that before? Even said that before….' His voice trailed off, filled with an emotion Lyirin couldn't identify. Finally, he spoke again. 'I'd like to know who sent you, and how you found me.'

He leaned over, and stroked a hand across her cheek.

Lyirin felt him attempt to reach into her mind, and slammed up her defenses, hissing at him.

'No one sent me.' She replied, her voice filled with anger. '_You_ are in _my_ lab, _my_ territory, and I merely came to reclaim it.'

The male laughed.

'A very likely story.' He retorted. 'Perhaps I'll hear the truth if you were to become more acquainted with my guardians?' His voice was soft, and dangerous, and he probed her mind, once more, deeper. 'You _will_ tell me. Who sent you, and where is your hive? They can't be very far from here.'

Lyirin slumped back in her restraints.

'I have no hive.' She hissed.

This earned her more laughter.

'A renegade?' He asked, his voice emotionless. 'How interesting…..and untrue.' His voice ended with a hiss. He turned around at last, and Lyirin started at him in shock.

The answer to Lyirin's question about what had felt different was instantly answered as she saw him properly for the first time.

_What was he? Human? Wraith?_

Reaching out with her mind, she looked closer. Definitely wraith, but something was very wrong. He resembled a human in appearance more than any wraith she had seen before. And there was something worse, that she could not quite identify… Part of her that she didn't even know existed, felt abhorrence towards such a hybrid. Her mind had labeled him as a hybrid, for nothing else quite seemed to fit. She couldn't even explain it, but something was…

'Wrong.' She hissed, finally. 'You are wrong!'

He laughed, and moved closer to her.

'I thought as much.' He said, softly. 'Note your reaction well; for it is the same reaction I've received from every wraith hive I've encountered since I escaping from those who held me hostage. I didn't think the lesser females could feel so acutely.' He dismissed her with a wave of his hand, then turned to face her again. 'I don't think you'll tell me now. But soon, you'll tell me everything I wish to know. I wonder how long it's been since you last fed…' He trailed off, his voice mocking. 'But I can tell you how long it will be until you feed again…if you do not start telling me the truth. Think about it.' He hissed and turned to leave the lab, deactivating the lights.

Lyirin shrieked in rage as she lay there, unable to move.

Whoever he was, she would not be thwarted from her goal, from her project. Not by humans, not by other wraith, and not by this mad hybrid. Though she was somewhat interested to learn the story of this wraith, especially as a scientist, she could not bring herself to feel concern for him after he had treated her in such a way.

…………………………….

Lying there, Lyirin thought about her reaction to the hybrid.

_Where had it come from?_

The hybrid was alone like her, although he seemed to have suffered a great deal. But he revolted a part of her, deep inside, that she couldn't even name. Like the instinct that drove her to feed, something very deep inside Lyirin wanted to squash the difference inside this hybrid, while part of her pitied him and whatever he had gone through. At the moment, though, all she cared about was getting back her lab; the hybrid could do whatever he wanted, so long as he left her territory.

She sighed in frustration. Whoever or whatever he was, for now he was her only means of leaving this place, for with the exception of a sudden quake, there was no way she was escaping these restraints on her own, sedated as she was. She felt pain and humiliation; he had looked at her like a lowly worm. True, she had not been with her hive for a long time, but she was a queen! Not caring that it was hopeless, Lyirin struggled against her bonds while waiting for the hybrid to come back. One way or other, she would find her way out of this.

………………………………

The one Lyirin had called the hybrid drew closer to the human encampment. These humans were primitive, but they served their purpose both for feeding and experiments. This time, he'd bring back one extra for the captive female, if she decided to tell him the truth. He was still furious about her reaction to him; the look in her eyes and the clear feelings of abhorrence. A very small part of him had hoped that she might have at least accepted him as wraith, one of her own kind. But it seemed that he was never to be accepted by his own kind again. He snorted.

His inability to properly probe her mind also infuriated him; it seemed she had a powerful mind for a supposedly lesser female. No matter. Hunger would weaken her.

His torturers had called him 'Michael', without knowing it was to be the bane of his existence. He'd considered their proposal of life as a human, before he had truly remembered how it had been back then. Even before he'd regained his memory, no one had trusted him or even wanted to speak to him. Guards had followed him everywhere and that large, primitive human with the dreadlocks had attacked him at every opportunity presented. And his memory…

The poison they'd injected into him had stripped everything about him that made him who he was, his life, his knowledge, and his personality. They had effectively killed his true self, and might as well have properly killed him, for no one would have him now. No human, no wraith. The reaction of this female who claimed to be a renegade only proved that. Renegade! _He_ knew what it was to be truly a renegade…

A human walking very close to him quickly diverted his attention. With a grin, the one known as 'Michael' lifted his stunner and drew closer to his human prey.

…………………………..

After what seemed hours of waiting, Lyirin finally heard returning footsteps, as well as a dragging sound. She lifted her head as much as the restraints allowed, and saw the hybrid returning with what appeared to be two human captives.

He pulled the stunned humans inside, and put restraints on them. Lyirin guessed that he used restraints rather than a cocoon because the cocoon area was currently occupied with those…things.

She watched him, half interested, wondering if he intended to starve her. As it had not been so long since she had fed on two humans, it would be a while before she felt the hunger pains. If he left her lab, and the hunger didn't strike, she was more inclined to experiment on them then perhaps let them go. How long did he plan on keeping her here? She shook with rage. After escaping the humans who were nosing into her business, she'd stupidly allowed herself to get caught by a mad hybrid that had taken over her lab. She wished, for the first time in thousands of years, that her hive knew where she was.

…………………………

'Michael' knelt before one human, and placed his hand below its throat. He sighed with pleasure as the life force was drawn into him, nourishing him. He kept his eye on the female, who was staring at him with loathing. When he had taken his fill, he moved towards her again.

'Who sent you?' He hissed. 'Why have you come here?'

'No one sent me. This is my territory.' She retorted; her eyes filled with anger.

He put his hand with the feeding slit below her throat. He wasn't averse to using other methods of persuasion, if need be, nor to feeding on his own kind at this point, even a female. It had the desired effect, too, the female's eyes widened, though possibly in anger more than fear. He did not try probing her mind further, not yet.

'NO ONE sent me!' She hissed at him. 'I am what you called me, a renegade! As are you!' She spat out at him. 'Release me! I'm of no use to you, nor do I care about your business, or your experiment. I just want you out of my lab. Some humans were nosing into my business…' She began, and at that, 'Michael's' attention was finally caught.

'Humans?' He asked her, intrigued. 'And why would a wraith flee from humans?'

'They were nosing into my business.' She hissed. 'Trying to find my lab.'

Michael's eyes bored into her.

'Tell me more about them.' He said softly, his hand once more lingering on her throat.

………………………………

Lyirin was angry almost to boiling point, but when he put his hand on her, as if to feed, something inside her snapped. That he could treat her like this, after taking her lab…. She glared at him defiantly, after he had asked her about the humans, while inwardly cursing whatever sedative he'd injected her with.

'What do you care about them?' She hissed. 'Are they allies of yours?'

He roared in rage and struck her across the face.

'Tell me about them.' He repeated, and gripped her throat.

Lyirin sighed. Maybe if she told him, he'd want to investigate, and in doing so take himself, and his creatures, out of her lab.

'They were not like most humans in that world.' She began, hesitantly. 'They had technology of a higher level than what the humans in that world usually have, though not like the Lanteans of the past.' She stated, and looked at the hybrid.

'And how many were there?' He asked. 'What did they look like?' He pressed, his voice growing eager.

'There were four of them.' Lyirin replied. 'With two others from the local village, one of whom I fed on.' Her look became pained. 'One was tall, with long hair, dark, in the same style as how many male wraith wear it. The others had dark hair, but shorter. One was a female, with darker skin, and an odd feel to her.'

'Michael' hissed in triumph.

'What are they to you? Who are they?' Lyirin insisted.

'_They_ are the reason you see me this way, _wrong_.' He hissed. 'I owe them a debt.' He walked to the end of the room, and looked at her. 'Perhaps I will grant you your life.' He said evenly, then walked out of the lab.

Lyirin opened her mouth to ask more questions, but he had already left.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Lyirin shrieked in frustration. She was still restrained and those creatures in the next room were liable to birth at any moment…..

She sank down in her restraints, wondering what she could do, when the idea came to her out of nowhere. She was amazed she hadn't thought of it before. All her time away from her hive, she had hidden from other wraith. But in her situation now, maybe if there were any nearby, she could try to reach them…..

Lyirin smiled, closed her eyes, reached out with her mind, deeply, forcing herself to concentrate, to focus, to conquer the numbing power of the sedative.

After several failed attempts, she was about to give up, when she finally felt something. There. There was something there! She couldn't believe her luck; they were quite close, very lucky, considering how she felt. She put her focus into the fragile contact she'd felt, allowing her presence to be felt at long last.

T.B.C

A/N - Thanks muchly for the reviews and feedback so far, it is very much appreciated. :)

So endeth chapter 4. Hopefully, 5 will be easier!


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